Doing the engine run in A319 C-GBIN 284

Doing the engine run in A319 C-GBIN 284. Photo by Hebb Russell

I had the chance to do an engine run during daylight last week. Usually, the airplanes come in at midnight or so, and get finished in the late evening. The run is done at the end of maintenance, and so most often, it's dark when we're going out. This airplane took a bit longer, and so it went outside on day shift.

We run the engines to check that the ignition works, that engine vibration is within the acceptable limit, that there are no leaks from oil or fuel filters, and that the bleed system operates normally. These items are worked on during maintenance, so we make sure they all work before the airplane goes back to the terminal for its next flight. We take each engine up to take off power, which can be a lot of excitement on an icy apron.

This time, there was a construction crew working alongside the apron. We had to encourage them to go to lunch so that we wouldn't deafen them.